1) I didn't catch that season of TUF so I don't know the background between the fighters. I thought Hamill won the fight, although I was impressed with Bisping's ability to get back up after being taken down-a bit like Chuck Liddel. At this point though I don't think either have the tools to make a go for the belt. Hamill's striking needs more polish.

2) Cro Cop was the open weight champ of a sizeable tourny; the man if you will, only a year ago. He fought way more frequently than Fedor, so give the man his due. Kongo Made CroCop seem small, plus the shots to the groin He does seem to lack the killer instinct that he's displayed in K1 and in pride. what is it that they say about fighter's recovering from a KO loss?

3) excellent fight, sorry to see hendo "lose," but wow, such skill by both, great fight. Rampage is at a peak.

Hamill needs waaaaay more polish. . . people think he was robbed solely on the idea that this guy was the aggressor. Pbtth! He was gassed at the end of the first round. His "throw as many haymakers as i can and keep walking forward" doesn't make him a good fighter. lots of heart maybe, A+ for effort but he's way behind the ball on technique. i wouldn't mind watching him In a few years. just because Tito likes him doesn't mean he should be in the cage. and he had stamina prob;ems even back on TUF. he's lucky he didn't take a really good punch, or he'd be whining just like he was in TRAINING back then. a collegiate wrestler that didn't even wrestle, what one leg drag, because it was fed to him.

and Bisping, obviously the more skilled of the two that night. many sub attempts, straight down the pipe punches, just not a finisher. I had no problem with the decision. but thats what happens when you let it go to decision.

maybe I'm just venting at my brother-in-law, he thinks that because Hamill didn't win it was fixed.

Indeed, agreed that for many Crocop was The Man so very little ago. Fighters' time at the top in MMA can be brief indeed!

I really haven't seen much of Crocop's fights in Pride and know him more by rep than anything, but I was surprised at how plodding and seemingly uninformed his approach to footwork was. Normally leftys are sharper than rightys in the the footwork/angle dynamics of mirror leads, but to my eye C. just gave the obvious angle to K. all night long and K. happily accepted.

What was the name of that strong black guy who goes nitrous? He knocked out Jardine last time and some Brazilian guy this time.

Also, speaking of Jardine, I am surprised to see that Liddell-Jardine is a PPV headline fight, and Jackson-Henderson was free

"You see, it's not the blood you spill that gets you what you want, it's the blood you share. Your family, your friendships, your community, these are the most valuable things a man can have." Before Dishonor - Hatebreed

Did anyone watch UFC Fight Night? Some pretty good fights, I thought it was pretty cool that Nate Quarry thanked Leonard Trigg after he won his match. I could be assuming the wrong person but since Nate was fighting out of Oregon Im assuming that is the same person I am thinkging about. Professor Leonard Trigg is also the "Director and Chief Instructor of LucayLucay Kali/Jeet Kune Do Association, Lameco Eskrima International Association, Northwest Regional Director of the Thai Boxing Association of America and USA Amateur & Pro Boxing Coach of West Portland Boxing Gym." I wonder if he worked on any FMA concepts with Nate. I was able to attend some seminars with Prof Trigg, great guy!

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"You see, it's not the blood you spill that gets you what you want, it's the blood you share. Your family, your friendships, your community, these are the most valuable things a man can have." Before Dishonor - Hatebreed

Rob, i was wondering the same thing about the leonard trigg comment nate made. as i'm sure you know, he no longer trains with team quest, and looking at his corner i would think he's doing his training in vegas.

I saw a post interview on Sherdog, I think he may have trained in Vegas and Hawaii with Chris Leben.

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"You see, it's not the blood you spill that gets you what you want, it's the blood you share. Your family, your friendships, your community, these are the most valuable things a man can have." Before Dishonor - Hatebreed

"You see, it's not the blood you spill that gets you what you want, it's the blood you share. Your family, your friendships, your community, these are the most valuable things a man can have." Before Dishonor - Hatebreed

Woof Guro Crafty, Sitting at home on a saturday night my temptation got the best of me and I bought the fights.I was not disappointed. It ended up being a good card with lots of upsets.

Diego Sanchez was pretty much dominated in a very techincal ground war. Jhon Fitch the former capt. of Purdue University wrestling team was a bigger stronger much more tech. wrestler. Sanchez took it well and admitted he was beaten fair and square.

Griffan vs. shogun Rua was a war both fighters looked to be gassed in the middle of round 2 shogun more so than Griffen......Griffen sustained a pretty good gash over his eye(what else is new) proved to be the warrior that he is, and fought much of the fight with blood in his face.Submitted Shogun with a RNC with a few seconds left in the fight.I was really suprised by Shoguns lack of Cardio......he also looked a litte fat IMHO.

Jardine just flat out kicked Lidells ass from start to finish....knocked him down in the sencond round with a solid left hook(I think)......the tellling damage for me was Jardines relentless attack on Lidells left leg and his left side rib cage.(Thai round kick)If Lidell does not have broken ribs I will be suprised.I will say one thing about Lidell he can take a beating. Not to say Lidell didn't land his shots he did.....Jardine probably out scored him at least two to one, and it appeared Lidell was wounded and unable to push the fight in the last round which is what I felt he had to do.This ended up being a good card and worth watching. TG

- Rashad should win this fight. Bisping looked horrible in his last fight and I don't seem him getting any better recently. Rashad on the other hand has been looking better and better.

- I can see Houston running through Silva but I don't want to see it go to the ground.

- Lastly one of our "sister teams" the Bomb Squad has Tamden McCrory fighting on this card against Gono (27-12-7). I think this will be Tamden's hardest fight yet but I do give him a strong chance of winning this one. I have always pictured Gono as a gate keeper to the 170 division and if Tamden wins this it will be huge for the Bomb Squad!

Thiago is undefeated at 11-0 with the majority of his wins by knockout however he is known for being a world class jiu-jitsu guy. He trains with Chute Box out of Brazil so I am sure his stand up has been well tested over the years. However, IMHO I just don't see Houston loosing in this match up unless it goes to the ground. Thiago hasn't fought anyone with the striking skills of HA.

Uriah Faber "The California Kid"...Have any of you guys seen this guy fight on WEC vs?This guy is BAD lol! He is a hard fighter. If you have not seen him go to work..Check him out on you tube. He is going to be fighting again Wed night at 9:00pm.

Out of all the fighters I have seen, I think Fedor Emelianenko(spelling?) was the most interesting fighter to watch. First off, one wouldn't think he was as tuff as he is at first glance. I have not followed the MMA game for some time now but, when it comes to transitioning from one technique to another, I feel Fedor is a master. He is one of my favorite fighters of all time. DT

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Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time. dalai lama

Jens Pulver beat Cub pretty damn fast tonight. A few seconds into the first round. Uriah Faber "The California Kid"...Won again tonight and was making moves up in the ring and making them work. That guy is a amazing fighter.

Shortly after GRACIEMAG.com published, first hand, the news regarding Murilo Ninja’s departure from Chute Boxe, the team from Curitiba released a briefing on its official site announcing that Mauricio Shogun to would be leaving the team.

“We regret very much the departure of Murilo and Mauricio Rua, they are fighters brought up in the team and left to start their own team in the USA. We’d like to remind them that the doors to Chute Boxe shall always be open for both of them and we wish them luck and success in their new endeavors,” stated Rudimar Fedrigo, who leads Chuteboxe along with Rafael Cordeiro.

Check out the bulletin first published early this afternoon on GRACIEMAG.com:

After Wanderlei Silva and Andre Dida’s departure, Chute Boxe loses another one of its big stars. As ascertained by GRACIEMAG.com, Murilo Ninja, who submitted the Frenchman Xavier Foupa-Pokan at Cage Rage 24, on the first of the month, has called it quits with the team from Curitiba.

Ninja, along with his brother Mauricio Shogun, was a symbol of Chute Boxe for many years at Pride, when they displayed for the world aggressive muay thai, enchanting the Japanese and making the academy popular. Ninja will be back in the cage in March for EliteXC, the event in which he will fight for four more times, aside from disputing the Cage Rage belt this coming July.

“I left the academy. I’m putting together my own team, in Massachusetts, USA. I spoke with Rudimar (Fedrigo) on Friday, it was a friendly departure, no worries. It was better for me, my career is short and I don’t earn big purses, so I have to look out for what is best for me and my future. Next week I’ll take a better look at the details regarding my new team: Name, structure, those things. I don’t know about my brother, what I know is that I left,” said Ninja in finishing.

As Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) skyrockets in popularity, the resistance of mainstream media outlets (Sports Illustrated and ESPN) has historically probably been due to a fear of pro-wrestling combined with old-school boxing writers lack of understanding. Boxing writers love boxing; and they often feel, correctly, that MMA fighters usually aren’t the best boxers.

They may not realize that the guy in there who is boxing so badly is an Olympic wrestler and submission expert—but strict boxing fans mentally “turn-off” the moment the fight hits the ground, and so are unable to appreciate the skill and art of ground-fighting. “Ground-and-pound” is a rough art. But MMA fans who “get” the ground game will take as much joy from a ground war as they will a stand-up one.

There is more to the debate, however—MMA striking is fundamentally different than boxing, for a variety of reasons. Over years of observing the sport, I kept noticing pro boxers making the switch to MMA and getting ‘out-struck.’ When Jens Pulver fought Takanori Gomi in 2004 in Pride, Jens had been winning pro boxing fights and knocking people out; I thought there was no way in hell Gomi could stand with him, but Jens was outgunned by a bigger man and lost by TKO.

Yosuke Nishijima, a former NABO Cruiserweight Champion with a pro boxing record of 24-2-1 went 0-4 in Pride, a top MMA organization. He went into the clinch with Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and was throwing body shots while Cyborg threw knees—much heavier.

More recently, Drew Mcfedries with 5 MMA fights out-struck Alessio Sakara, who had won professional and amateur boxing titles in Italy. Drew is explosive and iron-chinned, but it was still an interesting result.

I recently had a long internet discussion with Carlo Rotella, a professor at Boston College who wrote “Cut Time,” a terrific book in which he established himself as one of the great thinkers and writers on boxing—I avidly pursued him with the intention of picking his brain. He isn’t an MMA fan, although he may be starting to come around. I tried to explain some of the differences that I noticed, and some of the reasons that pro boxers might get out-struck in MMA. The “stand-up” part of MMA isn’t boxing, or kick-boxing or Muay Thai—it’s its own thing.

First, the gloves: the 4 ounce gloves used in MMA cut very easily, and they give a lot more guys “a puncher’s chance.” Almost everyone is heavy-handed with those on, flash knock-downs happen all the time.

Just ask George St. Pierre—I doubt anyone had warned him about the devastatingly heavy-hands of Matt Serra before Serra upset St. Pierre by TKO last Saturday to win the UFC welterweight title. In boxing, a guy is a “puncher” or he’s not—but in MMA, almost everybody’s a “puncher.”

In boxing, defensive stylists like Winky Wright can catch punches on their gloves, but that won’t fly in MMA, not with the little gloves. Likewise James Toney’s defensive masterpieces, the shoulder roll and catching shots on the top of his head, won’t work.

Another friend, a boxer, had said that “boxers learn to roll with punches” which is true, and can mitigate a lot of the power when you get caught clean—but with the little gloves, I think rolling with punches is minimally effective. There’s not much to roll with.

The defensive techniques of masterful boxers like James Toney would have to be adjusted for MMA.

The more important difference between MMA and boxing is range, and the biggest modifier to range is the take-down. The biggest, most decisive single attack in MMA, the take-down and defending it are HUGELY important. You can’t stand in the pocket and shoulder-roll and bob and weave, because your opponent will drop (“change levels”) and take you down; and he’ll end up on top, a hugely advantageous position.

To avoid being taken down, you have to keep your distance and be ready to “sprawl” out, to keep your legs away from an opponent’s grasping hands. Beautiful, flowing, fluid combination punching leaves you in range to be taken down.

You can’t take a wide stance, or plant your feet without increasing the danger of your legs getting snatched out from under you. In fact, without boxing’s strict rules about the clinch, combination punching might never have evolved to the point it is at today.

Of course, kicking and kneeing also changes the range, and punching in MMA becomes a little more like jousting—you’ve got to come in with straight punches and get out. Chuck Liddell’s striking is pretty much unquestionably the best in MMA at 205 pounds, and boxers look at him and think he looks terrible. Floyd Mayweather recently commented during a media teleconference that “UFC ain't nothing but a f_king fad. Anybody can go out there and street fight. If they think (UFC light heavyweight champion) Chuck Liddell is so good, we should take Chuck Liddell and take a good heavyweight under Mayweather promotions….” And he even offered a million dollars of his own money. All the diatribe does is reveal Mayweather’s ignorance, because Chuck is emphatically not boxing.

I won’t pretend to understand Chuck’s striking, but some factors are an understanding of power and leverage, finding angles on his punches, taking excellent angles with his feet and body, and most importantly perhaps his accuracy and “pop.” He throws his winging shots, his looping punches, as hard as he can; and he’s a sniper.

He’s got a set of whiskers, he’s impossible to take down, and he comes with a barrage of hard accurate punches the moment he gets an opening. His form is loose and open because MMA striking is an open game.

Chuck is a good striker for MMA—he’s not the best striker in the world. But put Vitali Klitschko in there with a decent MMA heavyweight and see if he goes two minutes before he’s on his back being submitted.

Chuck’s a great striker, but he’s still an MMA fighter; put him in there with Floyd’s heavyweight and if he’s losing the stand-up he’ll take the boxer down and pound him out, or even (Heaven forbid) submit him.

There sometimes can be slowness to MMA striking match—the third Tim Sylvia vs. Andre Arlovski fight comes to mind, which was a very technical and interesting fight, despite the booing. First of all, you’ve got two heavyweights who have knocked each other out, so they’ve got to be careful.

In ‘old-time’ bare-fisted prize-fighting, fighters would throw 2-3 punches a minute, something that the modern 3-minute round system and gloves (in boxing) has completely changed . MMA, with the longer 5-minute round and the tiny gloves, has taken us a step back on that road.

The gloves are closer to bare-fisted, and cut much more readily. Mario Sperry, a legendary Brazilian fighter who trained under Carlson Gracie and founded Brazilian Top Team, reminisced to me about the old Vale Tudo (“anything goes” in Portuguese) fights without gloves, that they were “bloodbaths.” Sylvia and Arlovski played a very technical little game of range and motion, a game of fractions of an inch, for 5 five-minute rounds.

I’ve heard some trainers say that too much pure boxing is actually bad for MMA fighting—you get used to the close range, you get into the mentality that you can “take one to give one.”

When I raised these points with Professor Rotella, he responded, “that the gloves allow for a level of sophistication and development in striking--in both quantity of punches thrown and quality of the complexity of technique--that far exceeds the more direct and sometimes more lethal striking in MMA.

“It's sort of like a genius of the epee [a thin fencing sword] getting his clock cleaned by a guy with a shovel. The epee's great in a swordfight, but in a different kind of fight the shovel might be just the thing. Doesn't make the epee any less beautiful, nor does it make high-level fencing any less sophisticated, and a guy with a shovel isn't going to last long in a straight swordfight, but the fact that the lovely epee and all the richness of technique that has grown up around it might be the wrong tool for the job in certain circumstances is a testament to the variety of leverage, distance, and decisiveness in different fighting styles.”

I think this is very true (and well-written), boxing striking is more beautiful and elegant than MMA striking. It may have something to do with “use,” those boxers spend their whole lives working in that small arena, essentially toe-to-toe, trying to hit without getting hit. They become masterful at it, and move into the realm of “poetry-in-motion.”

Carlo’s comments reveal some of the old bias (c’mon, an epee versus a shovel?) but there are some interesting truths behind it. He talks about using the right tool for the job, and in MMA the right tool is quite different than the boxing tool.

From Sherdog:Chuck Liddell (Pictures), the former UFC light heavyweight champion, and Wanderlei Silva (Pictures), the former PRIDE middleweight king ended years of frustration by locking horns and granting fight fans across the globe their wish of seeing the dangerous 205-pound fighters square off.

Liddell and Silva tore right into each other from the outset and from the way the two were delivering pulverizing punches, it seemed like the bout was one strike away from being stopped at any moment.

Silva was rocked in the first period and stumbled into the fence only to miraculously fend off Liddell with a bomb or two of his own, which caused "The Iceman" to stagger backward. The times that both men were on the verge of being sent to sleep were too numerous to count. Without question, the two future Hall of Famers delivered more than expected and for once, a fight of this magnitude more than lived up to the hype.

Silva was all but out at least twice in the opening round, but he was unbelievably able to shake off the cobwebs and bounce back.

"He had a lot better chin than I thought he did," a worn and battered Liddell said with a chuckle after the war. "I hit him with a lot of shots real hard. He still kept coming. I hurt him a few times during the fight, but he just covered up and kept coming. … I had him hurt a little bit but he recovers quick."

Liddell, now 21-5, was dropped legitimately once and taken off his feet another time, but for reasons only the fight gods know, he endured. Silva was cut badly over his right eye and his cheeks swelled considerably. Liddell had scrapes under both eyes and an inflated bottom lip.

Both men were exhausted in the latter stages of the fracas, but still they managed to swing for the fences until the final bell sounded. It was still anybody's guess as to whether the fight would last the allotted three rounds. Liddell, 38, even managed to score two perfect double-leg takedowns.

Silva has always had that uncanny ability to recover within seconds of being on the verge of unconsciousness, as does Liddell. But what kept both men coming back for more attrition was their heart and desire to win.

"It would have been a travesty if both of us didn't fight, because it was a great fight for the fans," Liddell said of the fight that seemed destined to never materialize. "We're just swinging. That's just good old fashioned stand there and bang each other."

Liddell was able to stave off a third defeat in as many fights, but the same can't be said about "The Axe Murderer." Silva has now been the recipient of three frightful beatings, two by brutal knockout. Silva didn't discuss his future in the sport, though he did agree with the official scoring of the contest. Liddell won the unanimous nod by the margins of 30-27 (twice) and 29-28.

"He's a very tough guy," said a disappointed Silva, whose record fell to 31-8-1 with one No Contest.

"I give my best," the 31-year-old Brazilian continued. "Win or lose for me. I like to give the emotion for my fans. Here and everywhere."

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"You see, it's not the blood you spill that gets you what you want, it's the blood you share. Your family, your friendships, your community, these are the most valuable things a man can have." Before Dishonor - Hatebreed

You need to start hanging out somewhere with a higher IQ about these things For example, here Anyone who thinks that fight was fixed is so far into the realm of double digit IQ that he is in sight of single digit IQ

I had not seen many of VS's Pride fights and knew him more by reputationI was surprised by VS's lack of tactics/technique for closing. The footage I saw of his fight prep sparring had him with someone his own height-- CL is about 3" taller than VS and is unusually good at hitting with power while moving, even while moving backwards on angles. I had no sense that VS had thought about this or prepared for it.

OTOH I thought Matt Hughes came in with a sound strategy for closing: shift to right lead to nullify GSP's formidable left inside leg kicks (something which few people can do without getting counter-rushed) and go for the ankle pick or single leg. With this he could have come down in side control and perhaps done very well. In short, an intelligent and valid strategy. The problem though was that GSP's footwork and intelligence in his footwork was simply too awesome-- as was everything else. Truly outstanding performance by GSP, who also impresses as a class act to boot. MH, whom I don't care for from his performance as a coach on TUF, I thought handled his defeat well and graciously.

First off, Wand has one decent chin, insane. I have decided that for now on I am not going to pick fights until 20 seconds into the first round. It really all depends on their mindset at the beginning of the fight. If Wand was the same guy as he was in his first two Pride fights he would have won vs. Chuck. However, he wasn't. Very timid, waiting for Chuck to close, etc. Nothing like the Wand we have seen in the past in fact he was pawned directly into Chuck's game. Chuck does a very good job of picking people apart while back pedaling and then turning the corner and putting them against the fence.

MH VS. GSP:

Very interesting how much MH has favored switching leads recently and it hasn't just been in his fighting. He specifically used this strategy in several of the fights on the reality show. It is too bad no one has exposed some useful footwork to him out of this structure (more on the members forum when I get a chance). I also was happy to hear Joe call out GSP on his ability to use his footwork to move, not putting the heels down, toes facing forward, etc. Main attributes I have been building into my fighters for years has finally started to go main stream. I really hope more pro fighters start to catch on.

Man, so much more I have to add but little time. BTW, HOLY COW WITH THE RECENT FEDOR FIGHT!

Wow.. I might be late on the news but Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le is set for March.Also.. There was a Savate Stylist on Showtime Elite XC

Anyone see it? His kicks to the outside of the thigh definitely hurt his opponent, who happened to be a local fighter (Kala Kolohe) from Waianae and is scheduled to fight Robbie Lawler.Unfortunately he didn't utilize the kicks as much as he should have been because he let the shorter opponent get in too close and land a straight right to the chin.

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"You see, it's not the blood you spill that gets you what you want, it's the blood you share. Your family, your friendships, your community, these are the most valuable things a man can have." Before Dishonor - Hatebreed

I was thinking Frank would pretty much carve though Brock but now I am starting to think that brock might be alittle to powerful..Not to sure who is gonna win this one but I hope Frank Chokes out this WWF drop out.

"Round 1: The fighters come out of their corners. Lesnar scores a quick take down on Mir and quickly pases Mir's guard. Lesnar strikes Mir in the back of the head and is deducted a point. The fighters stand back up. Mir is dropped by Lesnar! Mir gets a leg lock. Lesnar taps!!! It's over!"